Course · Climate and carbon · Designers and consultants

Embodied Carbon & Passive House

Passive House cuts operating energy and carbon; this course turns to the carbon in materials and construction. It covers what embodied carbon means, the frameworks and tools for measuring it, and strategies and case studies for reducing it while keeping Passive House performance.

Key points

• What embodied carbon means for a building’s emissions and for climate change mitigation.
• The frameworks for understanding embodied carbon, and the tools for measuring it.
• Strategies for low embodied carbon that keep the benefits of Passive House performance.
• How embodied carbon reduction and Passive House goals work together for mitigation and adaptation.

Learning objectives

• Describe the meaning of the term Embodied Carbon, and its implications on building carbon emissions and climate change mitigation.
• Outline the framework for understanding embodied carbon and the tools for doing it.
• Describe strategies for implementing low embodied carbon outcomes, while maintaining the benefits of Passive House performance.
• Outline how ultimately embodied carbon reduction and Passive House goals can work hand-in-hand, supporting optimized climate mitigation and adaptation.

Topics: Embodied carbon